A big part of successfully managing your time is getting past those bumps that threaten to knock you down. You have to push past those days when you don’t feel like you can do anything at all – when you feel paralysed.
Do You Have Tasks Like This?
You might find yourself butting heads with a certain task. This task is something you know you absolutely need to do, but you keep putting it off.
You do that because it seems big and scary. You put it off because you don’t feel like doing it, don’t think you can do it, and would rather do anything else.
Unfortunately, you can’t eliminate this task. Your only hope, besides doing it yourself, is to delegate or outsource the task. I urge you to either delegate the task if that’s at all possible. The important thing is that it gets done, freeing up your time and your headspace for working on other items on your to-do list.
Tackle the Most Challenging Thing on Your To-Do List First
For now, though, I’m talking about a task that you must do yourself and that you are really procrastinating on. I urge you to just do it, no matter what, no matter how you feel.
Some people call this “eating the frog” first, and it’s something that one of my favourite motivational speakers, Brian Tracy, talks about often. The theory is that you want the most unpleasant task on your to-do list to be circled as your daily “frog”, and you should do it first, because it will tend to give you momentum for the rest of your day, once finished.
Here’s a short YouTube video about this concept:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W7GB5Fh2XM
Take one step forward to complete the task, and just do it. If you can get past this task, then the others will all seem so much easier by comparison.
You have to get back on track.
Here’s The Secret
This is a mindset thing. It helps to even just realise it. You’ve turned this task into a monster in your mind, for whatever reason.
The first thing you should do is break the task down. Break the task down into its smallest parts. Whittle it down into its tiniest steps so that it’s not scary at all anymore.
After you’ve whittled the task down, force yourself work on it for just five minutes. Anyone can do nearly anything for five minutes.
Give yourself a break after that. Then, work on it for five minutes more.
Keep working in that pattern until you find you are in the headspace to complete the task normally. You’ll probably soon realise that it’s not as bad as you imagined. You’ll feel a great weight lifted off of your shoulders, especially if it’s a task you’ve been putting off for a while.
In most cases, you should work on the most challenging thing on your to-do list first. Work on it when you’re fresh, usually in the morning.
If you work on the most challenging thing on your to-do list first, then you’ll have fewer reasons to put it off. If you break the task down into its tiniest steps, then you’ll have no excuse not to move forward with it.
Do whatever you need to do to tackle this challenging item on your to-do list. If you keep putting it off and putting it off, your goals will get much further away.
One of the major differences between those who are successful and those who are not successful is that successful people do the work even when they don’t feel like it.
Stop waiting for conditions to be absolutely perfect and optimal. Sometimes, you have to work when you don’t feel like it. Sometimes, you have to do tasks that are less than desirable.
You can make it easier on yourself by following the trick I’ve outlined here. Push through it, no matter what. Become a person who always gets it done.
Check out Motivation Made Simple if you need some help to improve and maintain your motivation: http://kmginfo.com/go/motivation-made-simple
